May 30, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Unlocking Profit Potential: Your Organization’s Guide to Social Entrepreneurship
This book serves as an introduction to nonprofit business ventures, with explanations of the basic terminology and a summary of the key issues that boards should consider before authorizing their organization to begin a moneymaking enterprise.
Most important, a nonprofit organization should be in good health before experimenting with social entrepreneurship, this book advises, with stable leadership, solid financial status, and a clear mission. Along these lines, one chapter begins with questions board members should contemplate, such as “How stable is your management situation?” and “Do you have the capacity to support a social enterprise?”
This book also discusses risk factors and potential roadblocks that boards might encounter along the way, such as legal or tax complications, and gives advice on how to handle those problems. To prevent common obstacles, such as a lack of momentum in the venture, for example, the book suggests that the board set timelines and milestones and acknowledge widely the business’s short-term accomplishments.
Case studies of organizations that have launched successful business ventures are also included, as well as tips on creating a business plan and worksheets to help gauge an organization’s readiness to start a business venture.
Publisher: BoardSource, 1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20036-5104; (202) 452-6262 or (800) 883-6262; fax (202) 452-6299; mail@boardsource.org; http://www.boardsource.org; 64 pages; $31.50 for members, $42 for nonmembers; I.S.B.N. 1-58686-049-6.
